When Excel arrived at Alijos Rocks for a second helping of tuna things had changed, said skipper Shawn Steward. After a couple of days he headed for the inside and found biting yellowtail. On April 24, he wrote:

"Today we started outside of Hipolito on a temperature break to look for kelps or any sign of albacore. For our efforts on the kelps we found one that was holding a few 15 to 20-pound yellowtail. The rest of the afternoon we did not see any more so we ran into the shallows and before we got there I saw a sonar mark of just a few yellows, so I stopped. We ended up drifting for 2 hours and picked up all the yellows that we needed and left them biting. They were eating everything in the water from sardines to surface poppers. The fish were all mixed up; anywhere from 12 to 25 pounds, and put on a very good show around the boat."
Steward tried Guadalupe Island and albacore fishing on the way home from the eight-day trip. He said the water at the island was an inviting purple, with some sign of tuna, but at 64 degrees was a mite chilly yet for a major bite. The bass and yellowtail were biting, however. He docked the boat April 28 at Fisherman's Landing.

Ger Steinberg of Malibu had the largest fish, a 104-pound tuna, but wasn't entered in the jackpot. Chris Cornette got a 58-pound yellowfin that won first place, on a sardine, a 6/0 Mustad hook, 50-pound Big Game line, a Penn 113 Tiburon conversion reel and a Calstar 670 rod.

Emanuel Robinson of Stockton was second, for a 47-pound yellowtail, and Mike Kwan of Glendale was third, for a 44.4-pound yellowtail. Cody Cornette, 13 and a football, baseball and basketball player in Julian, posed with his dad Chris, the first-place winner.